On the Subject of Nixie Codes

Who in the right mind thought it was wise to place this piece of 1955 tech onto a bomb?

This module consists of a box with 3 nixie tubes, each of them has a digit from 0–9 displayed in it, and a screen at the bottom right of the box, which indicates a stage count. When you press one of the nixie tubes, the digit within it will change to a different one, and the stage count will increase with 1.

To solve the module, determine the two reference tubes to find out what tube to press, then repeat this to create one of the codes below. When a correct code has been made, press the submit button in the middle of the module.

Pressing an incorrect nixie tube, or submitting the wrong code, will incur a strike. In the rare case that it might happen, this module will solve itself after completing stage 10.

 

Step A: Finding the primary reference tube.

To start the defusing process, you need to determine the two reference tubes. These are used for the table at step C to determine which tube to press.

The primary reference tube, from left to right, is...

• The 1st tube, always at stage 1, and also if the digit displayed in this tube is greater that the first digit of the serial number, or equal to the last.
• The 2nd tube, if the digit displayed in this tube is equal to either the amount of batteries or the amount of battery holders on the bomb.
• The 3rd tube, if neither apply.

Step B: Finding the secondary reference tube.

After you have determined the primary reference tube, follow the rules below to determine the second reference tube.

The secondary reference tube, from left to right, is...

• The 1st tube, if the digit from the tube you pressed before* is the same as this one.
• The 2nd tube, if the digit from the tube you pressed before* is equal to either one of the digits in the stage count (So with stage 15 for example, either 1 or 5).
• The 3rd tube, if neither apply.

* If the stage count is 1, use the first digit of the serial number instead, since you wouldn’t have pressed any tubes yet.

Step C: The combination table.

Now that you have both the primary and secondary tube, look at the table below to determine which tube to press.

Columns (right): Primary Rows (bottom): Secondary	Tube 1	Tube 2	Tube 3
Tube 1	Press 3	Press 2	Press 1
Tube 2	Press 1	Press 3	Press 2
Tube 3	Press 2	Press 3	Press 1

Repeat this progress until you have one of the codes shown at table D.

Table D: Correct Nixie Codes.

Each time you’ve pressed a Nixie tube, return to this table and check if the order of digits matches one that’s shown below.

415	856	064	262	347
578	904	494	119	539
647	735	110	957	420
690	372	818	672	777
872	666	582	268	492
178	215	349	431	529
671	725	835	965	055
039	147	216	362	470
513	651	796	802	987